You'd give your life you'd sell your soul

He saw the look on his sister's face and felt shame prodding at him from within. He realized in that moment just how bitter and defensive the last few months had made him. Not just since he'd arrived here, with all the drama and upheaval that had occurred at the Plateau, but going all the way back to Tyrannus's betrayal. And there was the death of his mother lingering on his mind that he still hadn't really dealt with yet…

He'd always been an emotional and reactive guy, quick to anger and long-burning with grudges, but he'd never been this much of a dick. He was embarrassed and sad that this was how he and his sister were reintroduced after months of missing her and wondering how she was. She had every right to be angry with him, and he deserved her stinging words.

He closed his eyes and stayed that way for a moment, forcing himself to chill out and take responsibility for his lack of attentiveness as a pack member -- and a highly-ranked one at that -- and as a brother. Osprey's voice, the anger gone out of it, came to him as she attempted to back up and re-set the scene. In that moment he remembered the bossy girl who would insist every scene of her games be played out perfectly, and if they weren't, well, they'd just have to do them again. The unexpected bit of nostalgia brought a small smile to his face, and he opened his eyes and looked at her again, in a new way, his vision unclouded by anger this time.

"Oss," he said, his voice soft. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm the one who should be apologizing. You're right. I've been slack. Real slack. It's been a hard few months for me since Tyrannus wrecked everything, and I haven't been in a good head space at all. I'm trying to fix that now. I'm sorry I wasn't here when you arrived, and I'm sorry you felt like I didn't care. I just didn't know. But now that I do, I'm…damn, I'm so happy to see you."